Donatello, The Feast of Herod, c. 1435, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille. Well, I’m just off out to talk about Donatello, so I’m afraid I don’t have the time to write a new post now. Instead, I’m going to revisit a post from 6 May 2020: it was Picture of the Day 49. Re-reading it, I wasContinue reading “Donatello, take 2…”
Category Archives: Alberti
Lent 27
At least one of the characters here looks up to our right – so they must be located to the left of the cross, under Jesus’s right hand: they are the good people, among the blessed, and the donor is somewhere in their company. We have seen at least three of them before. The manContinue reading “Lent 27”
101 – Spinning a Yarn
Diego Velázquez, ‘Las Hilanderas’, 1655-60, The Prado, Madrid. Had Picture Of The Day not ended on a Saturday, then this would have been POTD 100 – for reasons which should eventually become clear. But I couldn’t shift Scrovegni Saturday, now, could I? And had I got my skates on during the Velázquez lecture (thank you to all thoseContinue reading “101 – Spinning a Yarn”
Day 64 – Ascension
Pietro Perugino, The Ascension of Christ, 1495-98, Musée des beaux-arts, Lyon. Today is the Feast of the Ascension, forty days after Easter, when Jesus went up into Heaven – Jesus himself makes three references to it, before it has happened, in the Gospel of St John, and it is described in both the Gospel of St LukeContinue reading “Day 64 – Ascension”
Day 49 – Donatello in Lille
Donatello, The Feast of Herod, c. 1435, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille. There must be something about Donatello that means that I keep coming back to him (Picture Of The Day 25 and 35) – it’s probably the simple fact that he was very good. One of the best, in fact. And this particular image – notContinue reading “Day 49 – Donatello in Lille”
Day 48 – Colour and Design
Angelica Kauffman, Colour and Design, 1778-80, Royal Academy, London. We’re back with the rainbow, again, after yesterday – but seen from a different point of view today. It is now a week since the Royal Academy officially announced that they would be cancelling their exhibition of the works of Angelica Kauffman, which, of all the shows that haveContinue reading “Day 48 – Colour and Design”
Day 37 – Noah
Paolo Uccello, Stories from the Life of Noah, c. 1447-8, Chiostro Verde, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. I mentioned, a few days back (Picture Of The Day 32) – I think it was Sunday – that I would come back to the great polymath of the Renaissance, Leon Battista Alberti. And just a couple of days beforeContinue reading “Day 37 – Noah”
Day 32 – Juno discovering Jupiter with Io
Pieter Lastman, Juno discovering Jupiter with Io, 1618, National Gallery, London. I started writing Picture Of The Day on 19 March – so I’m now beginning the second month! To celebrate I want to return to several of the themes of POTD 1: Jupiter, a great god, but a bad man; cows – Jupiter had disguisedContinue reading “Day 32 – Juno discovering Jupiter with Io”
Day 8 – The Birth of Venus
Day 8 – Alessandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, c. 1485, The Uffizi, Florence. Originally posted on 26 March 2020 The request I’m following up today is ‘wonky people in early paintings’, and although 1485 is not terribly early from my point of view, a discussion ensued about Botticelli – and as I mentioned Venus yesterday,Continue reading “Day 8 – The Birth of Venus”
dr richard stemp 